Command & Conquer

=== Setting ===
Command & Conquer is set in an alternate history, and begins with a meteor crashing near the river Tiber in Italy in 1995. The meteorite brings with it an alien substance that scientists call Tiberium, named after its impact site, which can absorb and crystallize precious metals from the surrounding soil, but also transform its surroundings and produce extremely toxic gases and radiation that is fatal to humans and animals. An ancient, cultic society called the Brotherhood of Nod, who claims to have foreseen the potentials of this new substance through their self-proclaimed messianic figure known only as Kane, invests in the development of technology to harvest and refine Tiberium crystals, far ahead of the global scientific community's own research, and use the resources it gathers to accumulate a rapidly growing army of followers worldwide.
By the beginning of the game, Tiberium has spread across the planet, with Nod forces gaining control of nearly half of the rapidly growing substance through footholds in some of the poorest nations. This wealth has enabled Nod forces to conduct increasingly ambitious terrorist attacks in wealthy countries. The Global Defense Initiative, initially formed by the United Nations as a multinational peacekeeping force in the aftermath of an alternate version of World War II, has since been repurposed as a global anti-terrorist organization, and makes its new goal the elimination of Nod across the globe. The conflict between the two sides eventually culminates in a world-wide war between GDI and Nod, with the Nod campaign taking place in Africa and the GDI campaign being set in Europe. The player's character is not identified directly in the game. While the Nod campaign character is simply referred to as "Nod Commander", the sequel Tiberian Sun established the GDI commander to be named James Solomon.



GDI campaign

With the UN calling for GDI to assist in combating Nod in Europe, the player assists as a GDI commander under the command of General Mark Jamison Sheppard. After establishing a beachhead within Nod's territory in Eastern Europe, GDI focus on controlling Poland and Belarus and removing troops from occupied lands in Germany. However, Kane uses media manipulation to convince the world that GDI deliberately attacked and massacred the citizens of the Polish city of Białystok. Although Sheppard denies GDI's involvement, the UN cuts funding to the military outfit, forcing GDI to mount defensive operations against a sudden surge of Nod attacks, including protecting bases and leading Tiberium scientist Dr. Ignatio Mobius. However, Nod soon finds themselves on the defensive upon learning that it was a ruse designed by Sheppard and the UN to lure them into a false sense of security, with new funding allowing GDI to bring forth new combat units to help in battle. Eventually GDI locates Kane's main base of operation at a complex called the Temple of Nod in Sarajevo, Bosnia, with Sheppard ordering the commander to launch a final assault to defeat him. GDI succeeds, with the complex destroyed by GDI's superweapon, the space-based Ion Cannon, ending the conflict, though leaving some experts to question if Nod will cease operating.



Nod campaign

With Nod engaged in open warfare across the globe, Kane gives orders for his forces to secure territory in Africa, with his second-in-command Seth assigning the player, a new recruit, to assist in the Brotherhood's operations. After successfully conducting operations in Northern Africa through the use of both conventional and unconventional warfare, hitting GDI targets, eliminating warlords, and securing a set of codes for nuclear missiles, Seth attempts to send the recruit to attack the United States military, but is executed by Kane for initiating a rogue operation. Upon combating the chaos Seth created, and countering GDI's efforts to re-establish themselves in Northern Africa, Kane assigns his recruit to lead the charge in securing the rest of the continent, eventually culminating in them establishing a Temple of Nod in South Africa and securing control of GDI's Ion Cannon. With the cannon secured, Kane denotes victory in Africa, and makes plans to achieve the same in Europe, allowing the recruit to use the cannon to destroy one of four historical landmarks with the hijacked Ion Cannon - the White House, the British Houses of Parliament, the Eiffel Tower, or the Brandenburg Gate - thus shattering GDI's public image.



Connection to Command & Conquer: Red Alert

Command & Conquer: Red Alert was intended to be a prequel to Command & Conquer, and both the Allied and Soviet campaigns contain references to Command & Conquer. In particular, some of the Soviet mission briefings feature Kane, while one of the cutscenes in the Allied campaign directly foreshadows the creation of GDI. Also in the Soviet final cutscene, Nadia says "this temporary chaos in Europe will only help to fuel the Brotherhood's cause", mentions "the land of Nod", and states that "the Brotherhood will tire of the USSR in the early 1990s". However, Command & Conquer has the Brotherhood of Nod start out as an underground terrorist organisation initially operating out of the African continent, not as a major political force in control of the late Soviet empire. Furthermore, the Soviet Union is shown on world maps to no longer exist at the time, with the Russian Federation being shown as a member of GDI. With the release of Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, a hotly debated topic which arose among fans was whether Command & Conquer follows the conclusion of the Allied or Soviet storyline, with evidence existing for both sides of the debate. Former C&C designer Adam Isgreen confirmed that Tiberian Dawn in fact follows on the conclusion of Red Alert's Allies campaign, while Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge take place in a second parallel universe, created by a new attempt to alter history in "Tiberian Incursion", the working title of Westwood Studios' cancelled version of Command & Conquer 3. The exact relationship between the events of the two games remains unclear, and their connection was later disregarded by Electronic Arts, who preferred to treat the Tiberium and Red Alert series as completely separate universes.